Effective Learning in an Ambulatory Family Medicine Clerkship: A Qualitative Study of Medical Student Midpoint Feedback.

Background And Objectives: There is substantial research on the effectiveness of ambulatory medical preceptors' teaching skills, but less is known about the student perspective on what contributes most to effective learning in a busy clinical practice.

Methods: As part of a formative midpoint assessment during the third-year clerkship in family medicine, students were asked to respond to the following open-ended reflective prompt: "My preceptor contributed to my learning by..

Using Health Information Technology to Reach Patients in Underserved Communities: A Pilot Study to Help Close the Gap With Health Disparities.

Introduction: In the current era of medical education and curriculum reform, medical schools across the United States are launching innovative approaches to teaching students in order to improve patient outcomes and increase patient safety. One such innovation is the use information technology (IT) that can be used to disseminate health information, especially for patients with limited access to care. Strategies for using health IT to enhance communication between providers and patients in low-income communities can be incorporated into undergraduate medical education (UME) curriculum.

Residency faculty opinions about medical student advising: a national survey.

Background And Objectives: Medical student faculty advisors are charged with providing students the best possible information and advice regarding residency selection and how to increase their likelihood of matching into the program of their choice. Given the lack of clear and consistent processes for ranking residency applicants, medical student advisors will benefit from better insight into the perspectives of family medicine residency (FMR) faculty.

Methods: This study was designed to increase understanding of the perceptions of FMR faculty in evaluating and ranking medical student applicants.

Patient weight counseling choices and outcomes following a primary care and community collaborative intervention.

Objective: Obesity has become a public health epidemic in adults and children. Clinician practices need new models to effectively address overweight in patients, yet, practices lack time and resources. We tested a clinician-delivered intervention that utilized community resources for in-depth counseling for unhealthy behaviors including overweight.

Promoting primary care smoking-cessation support with quitlines: the QuitLink Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Counseling by clinicians promotes smoking cessation, but in most U.S. primary care practices, it is difficult to provide more than brief advice to quit in the course of routine work.

Patient perceptions of how physicians communicate during prostate cancer screening discussions: a comparison of residents and faculty.

Background: Residents are required to demonstrate competency in communication skills. Prostate cancer screening discussions are examples of complex physician-patient communication processes, requiring an objective presentation of the known risks, potential benefits, and scientific uncertainties surrounding screening. National organizations recommend shared decision making (SDM) in these discussions.

Effect on cessation counseling of documenting smoking status as a routine vital sign: an ACORN study.

Purpose: Guidelines encourage primary care clinicians to document smoking status when obtaining patients' blood pressure, temperature, and pulse rate (vital signs), but whether this practice promotes cessation counseling is unclear. We examined whether the vital sign intervention influences patient-reported frequency and intensity of tobacco cessation counseling.

Methods: This study was a cluster-randomized, controlled trial conducted in the Virginia Ambulatory Care Outcomes Research Network (ACORN).

Comparing breast cancer case identification using HMO computerized diagnostic data and SEER data.

Objective: To determine the sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of computerized diagnostic data from health maintenance organizations (HMOs) in identifying incident breast cancer cases.

Study Design: An HMO without a cancer registry developed an algorithm identifying incident breast cancer cases using computerized diagnostic codes. Two other HMO sites with Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) registries duplicated this case-identification approach.

Identification of children with special health care needs within a managed care setting.

Objective: To assess 2 established methods of identifying children with special health care needs (CSHCN) within a health plan population for intensified service coordination.

Methods: The tools tested were the Questionnaire for Identifying Children With Chronic Conditions (QuICCC) and the Clinical Risk Grouper (CRG) software. The QuICCC was administered by telephone to the parents of 517 children.